Obama edged Clinton for the white vote in Virginia, 52 percent to 47 percent, his first victory with that group in a Southern state, while she carried whites by only 10 percentage points in Maryland, according to exit poll data. It was a blow to the New York senator who long has held a clear advantage with that group. In overall Democratic presidential contests until now, Clinton has usually used solid white majorities to offset Obama's huge margins with blacks.
In Virginia, Clinton won among white women, the heart of her electoral strength, but only by 6 percentage points, according to the exit surveys conducted for The Associated Press and television networks. Her margin in Maryland was more than twice that, but still below the even larger margins she is accustomed to with that group. Obama countered by winning easily among white men in Virginia, while splitting those voters with her in Maryland.
Clinton usually has run up margins of 20 points or more over Obama with white women in presidential contests. Overall, the two previously had split white males evenly, according to data from exit polls in 19 states that have held competitive Democratic primaries.In another successful raid on Clinton's most pivotal supporters, Obama got 60 percent of women overall in Virginia, as well as 68 percent of men, the exit polls showed. His margins were only slightly weaker in Maryland. In previous Democratic presidential primaries, Clinton — bidding to become the first female president — has routinely carried a steady majority of women while Obama has enjoyed support from clear but slimmer majorities of males.
Obama had an even bigger margin among blacks than usual, as the Illinois senator seeking to become the first black president won support from nine in 10 of them in Virginia and a bit less in Maryland.
On the Republican side, front-runner John McCain prevailed despite big trouble with evangelical Christians and conservatives who make up a pivotal force within the GOP and are the heart of the support behind his chief remaining rival, Mike Huckabee.
Nearly four in 10 Virginia GOP voters were white, born-again and evangelical Christians, the exit poll showed, a big increase from the state's 2000 GOP presidential primary. Among them, 63 percent supported Huckabee — nearly matching the Baptist minister's best showing of the year with that group, when he got 70 percent of them last week in his home state of Arkansas.
Huckabee also got 51 percent of Virginia's conservatives, including two-thirds of those saying they are very conservative. Conservatives made up two-thirds of Virginia voters in the GOP contest. McCain won by nearly 3-to-1 with the state's moderates.
Maryland was a different story, where McCain won modestly with conservatives and by a huge advantage among moderates. Huckabee carried that state's evangelical and born again voters, but there were fewer of them and he won by a closer margin. In both states, McCain got more than six in 10 votes from those who were not born again and evangelical.
The GOP race in Virginia had other surprises. In an unexpected showing of weakness for McCain, independents — a group the Arizona senator has dominated — about evenly divided between him and Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor. McCain carried those voters decisively in Maryland. McCain modestly carried people in Virginia calling themselves loyal Republicans, and won easily in Maryland.
In both states' Democratic contests, Clinton found pockets of strength among whites calling themselves loyal Democrats and whites over age 60. Countering that, Obama carried independents by decisive margins, and led among all voters under age 60. That included unusually robust support from people under age 30, with whom he always does well — including three-quarters of them in Virginia and nearly as many in Maryland — and a split of the oldest voters Clinton usually carries.
Underscoring the extent of his sweep, Obama dominated among virtually all income and education levels in both states. Usually Clinton has won strong support from the lowest earning, least educated Democrats while Obama got solid backing from the best off.
The figures came from partial samples of an exit poll conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in 30 precincts each in Maryland and Virginia for the AP and television networks.
Those interviewed included 1,245 Virginia Democrats and 719 Virginia Republicans. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4 percentage points for Democrats and plus or minus 5 percentage points for the state's Republicans.
In Maryland, 1,324 Democrats were interviewed with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 points, and 690 Republicans with a sampling error margin of 6 points
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